Yellow headed Blackbird and more shorebirds

American Golden Plovers, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Sep 13, 2021

Yellow headed Blackbird (really!), East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Sep 13, 2021

Prairie Warbler, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Sep 13, 2021

Black Ducks and Mallards, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Sep 13, 2021

Common Buckeye, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Sep 13, 2021

The rare bird parade continues unabated for the month with multiple rarities seen today including a brief look at a Yellow headed Blackbird and at least 17 American Golden Plovers.  The forecast called for storms possible overnight with the arrival of a cold front. Decent southerly winds were blowing most of the night but the radars still showed some birds moving despite less than ideal conditions. With this in mind I planned to check for shorebirds at first light in various farm fields along the river. A storm woke me up at around 4am with some lighting and heavy rain. After making sure Wilson had chilled out post storm, I headed out before dawn and arrived at the Honey Pot with another storm moving through. Both storms were rather weak with fairly brief downpours. It was still raining lightly as it started to get light and I started scanning the fields but could only find a few Killdeer. I then headed across the bridge to check the East Meadows were shorebirds have been the most active lately (including double digit counts of American Golden Plovers yesterday). Ted was already there and we both scanned for awhile but didn’t find much beyond a few Least Sandpipers. We parted ways and I decided to spend some more time checking some weedy areas for sparrows and warblers. After one more brief shower forced me back to my car I was able to start covering more areas. As I was walking down a grassy strip I noticed a bird flying at me and calling. My initial thought was the bird sounded odd and was overall dark in color perhaps a little smaller than a grackle. The lighting was terrible but binocular views showed a yellowish head…Yellow headed Blackbird! The bird circled around me once before heading off, calling the entire time. I then had to decide if I would try for a recording or attempt some photos. I decided to try for photos as the bird was rapidly going away from me and I only managed some blurry shots showing a black blob with a lighter front end. The bird settled into a large cornfield and disappeared from view. I knew a few other birders were nearby and quickly contacted them. Despite a lot of effort the bird was not relocated as far as I can tell. John Y. reported a Yellow headed Blackbird on September 11th in the same general area and I’m sure it is the same bird. Oddly the bird was by itself and not associating with other blackbirds…my previous sightings of the species in the area have all been of birds in large blackbird/grackle flocks.  This is only my third record of the species in Hampshire County, with previous records in mid October of 2012 and November 2014.  As we were looking for the Yellow headed Blackbird to resurface we were treated to multiple rare shorebirds flying by and then settling into the fields including at least 17 American Golden Plovers in a single group (there may have been even more but this is the highest total seen at once).

Red eyed Vireo, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 12, 2021

Philadelphia Vireo, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 12, 2021

Eastern Phoebe, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 12, 2021

Ruby crowned Kinglet, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 12, 2021

Yesterday I got to spend the morning birding with former valley birder Devin at Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River with our main goal being the discovery of a Connecticut Warbler.   Despite the near constant onslaught of mosquitoes we still managed to find some good birds (alas a Connecticut Warbler was not among them). Notables included large numbers of Eastern Phoebes, multiple Philadelphia Vireos (a great fall for them so far), a couple of slightly late Bank Swallows, my first Ruby crowned Kinglets of the fall and seven species of warbler.